WARREN Gatland has no worries about Welsh weariness and told wind-up merchant Eddie Jones to concentrate on Scotland after his jibes about tired legs.

Wales are 80 minutes away from a Grand Slam but if they slip up against Ireland at Principality Stadium tomorrow then it opens the door for England to steal the title.

Ahead of the Calcutta Cup clash at Twickenham, Jones had a dig at Gatland’s men.

“Wales are a very good team, very well coached. Great credit to them for what they've done but they are starting to look a bit tired,” said the Australian.

"They've made more tackles than anyone else in the tournament and they're playing an Ireland side that seems to be peaking at the right time.”

The statistic is wrong – Wales are third for tackles with 660 with England leading the way on 793 – and Gatland was amused at Jones’ interest in the Cardiff encounter.

“What the hell is Eddie Jones doing talking about our game?! It was me I’d be concentrating on playing Scotland,” said the New Zealander.

“I’ve got no comment on Eddie Jones talking about us. If you look at the stats England have made a hell of a lot more tackles than us in this tournament. My advice to Eddie is to concentrate on the Scotland match.”

Wales’ success is built on confidence about their fitness and they came on strong in their win against England while Jones’ men flagged.

The conditioning team have stuck to that blueprint in the build-up to the clash with Ireland, who will head to Cardiff with a similar physical approach.

"It’s been very similar to the preparation we had for the England week, which was a really good build-up for that match. We have repeated the same format," said Gatland.

"We’ve worked in the down weeks and we’ve trained as hard as any team I’ve seen. We’ve put that training in the bank and there is no way anyone is training as hard as us in this Six Nations."

Wales trained at Principality Stadium with the roof shut because of torrential rain on Tuesday and repeated the trip to Cardiff yesterday with it open.

That is after yet another saga over whether a Six Nations game will be open to the elements given a forecast of poor weather.

Rules dictate that both teams have to agree to the roof being shut but Ireland boss Joe Schmidt said at his team announcement that the hosts had gone direct to tournament bosses.

"There's been a request from Wales that in the interest of the quality of the game and the very poor weather forecast that the roof be closed," said Schmidt.

"So they've said to the Six Nations directly, 'can it be closed?'"

When it was put to Schmidt that normally the visitors would be asked to decide on the roof, Schmidt replied: "Yes, normally, normally."

And when asked what Ireland want, Schmidt continued: "We'll adapt, we'll adapt. At the moment I'm not sure about the roof."

Ireland boss Schmidt fears closing the roof could make precious little difference in any case, recalling how he believes Wales over-watered the pitch back in 2017, when the hosts prevailed 22-9.

"For us, last time we said 'look, we don't mind, you choose'," said Schmidt. "And they chose closed, but made the field incredibly wet at the start of the game.

"So we will probably be happy enough if it's open anyway. We'll adapt to whatever conditions the game's played in.

"And if the Six Nations decide that it's going to be closed, well it will be closed and we'll play in those conditions.

"And if they decide that it's open, then we'll play in those conditions.

"For us, I think, the last time it was closed we arrived there and there was a lot said about making it good for spectators.

"And then the sprinklers were on for 30 minutes and the ground was very, very damp before the game started.

"So that probably enters into our minds about which closed is it going to be? Is it going to be closed and wet, or is it going to be closed and dry?

"If it's closed and wet, we might as well have the roof open and let the rain come in."

Wales have named an unchanged team with full-back Liam Williams fit after a shoulder injury.

Dragons number eight Ross Moriarty starts with his regional teammates Elliot Dee and Aaron Wainwright covering hooker and back row from the bench.

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